Category: Tiny stories

Posted in Fiction, Tiny stories

Awaiting

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

I look at the clock for the hundredth time. He’s still not home.

3:21 AM: It’s futile to wait up. It is only 3 hour journey. If he was coming home tonight, he would be home long back.

4:07 AM: But his friend had said he met him at VT station…

5:37 AM: He probably didn’t find a train…

6:58 AM: But why hasn’t he picked up the phone?

8:09 AM: Is he alright? Why would he not call me back? I know he is always angry but how can he ignore 26 calls?

9:16 AM: Did he have an accident?

9:45 AM: Should I call police?

10:15 AM: His text reads, “The maid will be late.”

11:13 AM: The maid is home, more cheerful than usual.

11:30 AM: He saunters in more cheerful than usual. I rush to meet him. His hair is wet from the shower.

I quietly move to the inner room. He speaks to the maid in a low tone. They laugh…

Posted in Poetry, Tiny stories

Impasse

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

I hold the phone

hoping you’ll pick up;

hoping you wouldn’t;

hoping you’ll recognise the number;

hoping you wouldn’t;

wondering how you could forget the number

when I couldn’t…

I hold the phone

hoping you’re awake;

hoping you’re asleep;

wondering how you could,

when I couldn’t…

I hold the phone wondering

if you have company

and who could she be;

fuming, how you could

when I couldn’t…

Raging, I throw the phone

at the wall

breaking it into pieces

like me…

Still wishing,

you had taken that call…

Posted in Tiny stories

Ghostly

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

Sitting on a brick wall

in the sea of the darkest night,

I, a lonely siren,

sang to my sailor,

beckoning him to venture out

of the comfort of his home.

Mosquitoes sang chorus.

Bats flew around

joining my lonely vigil.

The neighbours whispered

of the ghost in neighbourhood,

while, my sailor slept

dreaming of another,

never knowing the one

who awaits him.

Posted in Poetry, Tiny stories

Unsaid Goodbyes

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

You stand with your family

looking at me with eyes full of hate–

angry at god-knows-what

since god-knows-when–

glaring at the lawyer, the clerk, the judge,

your mortal enemies without a grudge.

You shift the glare

to burn a hole through my heart.

Startled, I glance back without anger,

only deep loss at the part

where the last thing we ever share

is the papers you hand over

to set us both apart.

Posted in Poetry, Tiny stories

Nowhere

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

Taking steps one at a time,

Lost in a haze of images–

Too slow to look at,

Too fast to understand,

Backwards in the good times we had,

Fast forward in the non-existent future.

Voices of friends

a blur of background noises–

Too high to like,

Too low to register,

Numb to all pain–

Too numb to be alive,

Too dead to be breathing,

Still existing

In a world without you…

Image by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

Posted in Poetry, Tiny stories

One Night Stand

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

All day, I wait for the night to return

When her long fingers caress me

And light the very fabric of my being.

Her silhouette in the dark room’s door

is the fire to my core.

I watch her every move

as she lies down next to me

with a sigh,

Her dreamy eyes closed to the world,

she smiles.

I sigh too, knowing too well,

My heart would never get over her,

No matter how many years go by.

Of course, she doesn’t understand

how I feel because, for her,

I’m just a night stand.

Posted in Poetry, Tiny stories

Pieces

Posted on by Shaily Agrawal

You picked my pieces

from the ruins,

dreaming to put me

together

on the pedestal

of perfection–

A place where I could

never belong.

Angry, you pushed me

off the pedestal

Shattering me into

Countless pieces

of heart.

Every day.